Seth Rogen: Hornet problems? What problems?

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Seth Rogen seemed mellow about the various hurdles his Green Hornet film has faced and assured reporters on Saturday that the movie is going forward despite rumors to the contrary.

Rogen spoke about the proposed superhero movie for the first time since news broke this week that Stephen Chow officially dropped out as sidekick Kato, which followed news that the film's release date and production date have been postponed by weeks.

"It's going great," Rogen said sincerely in a group interview today in Santa Monica, Calif., where he was promoting the comedy Funny People. "In my head, we lost Stephen Chow in April, so it's something I've had a lot of time to wrap my head around."

Rogen explained that the news of Chow's departure made the rounds only lately, but added that he and the filmmakers have known about it for a while and are already actively pursuing new Katos. "To me we haven't had a Kato since April, and we're looking," he said. "We're kind of in the same boat we were in beforehand."

As for the frequent delays, Rogen cited the economic downturn. Low DVD sales have made the studios more cautious about funding major projects. Also, Rogen affirmed, he, co-writer Evan Goldberg and director Michel Gondry are making an atypical studio blockbuster.

"You know, we're not trying to make what they would probably consider to be a 100 percent safe version of a movie like this," Rogen said. "We like to push the envelope in some directions. We like to do things that we find interesting and new and original. You bring Michel Gondry into the equation, and that opens up a whole new bag of worms."

In the same way Rogen's comedies are collaborative, with the actors improvising and writing jokes for each other, Rogen has also sought input from his gang for Green Hornet.

"Right now we're making a big movie and not many of our friends have made a movie this scale," he said. "So we're inviting everyone imaginable to come and just see what it's like and give us their ideas and throw in their input, have them learn from what we're doing and to get all their ideas in the process."

Funny People is Rogen's last starring role until he films The Green Hornet, but he teased that he may make an appearance at this week's San Diego Comic-Con to offer a preview. "There may be a little something at Comic-Con. I never know what I can say and what I can't say."